Still Barely Human
by VictorianChik
Summary: An AU where Wikus is rescued by the Prawn ship and must travel with them into space. Restored to his human body, he has to deal with being the alien in a group of extraterrestrials as he faces life beyond Earth. Warning: Spanking in some chapters


AN: As much as I liked the movie, the ending annoyed me because I like Wikus probably more than I should considering he started on the wrong side of alien apartheid. So . . . in order for me to find the satisfaction I wanted and explore other worlds, this story is AU from where it contradicts the ending. In this story Christopher and Oliver were able to get on the ship and take Wikus with them. They also rescue the Prawns from earth and all get aboard the ship.

For the rest of the story, I plan to let my imagination roam free.

Thanks to Fawkes Song for betaing.

Warning: spanking of an adult in various chapters.

D9&D9&D9&D9&D9&D9&D9&D9

He hadn't remembered much after being carried on the ship. Christopher was there. Oliver, too, somewhere, both of them moving around, but Wikus hadn't had the strength to do more than watch weakly, holding his Prawn arm on his knees.

As he subsumed to exhaustion, his last thoughts were that soon he would be full Prawn.

Later.

Much later.

Turbulence.

The ship shaking.

Quiet.

Prawn voices, clicking quietly over him.

Someone carrying him.

Lying on a hard bed.

Quiet.

Needles being shoved into his human arm, his legs.

He would have resisted, he would have screamed, but he lay there, tears gathering up in his eyes and slipping past his closed lids to trickle coldly down his cheeks.

"Relax," Christopher said from somewhere. "We're trying to help you. There will be pain, but we're taking the Prawn away."

Why? Wikus couldn't even articulate an answer in his pain-ridden state. He had accepted days ago the fact that he would soon be fully Prawn. Why take that away?

Something pulled over his mouth, and he fell back down into darkness.

He came awake screaming.

"My arm!" he tried to sit up. "My fookin' arm. It hurts. It's burning."

He was lying on a table or steel bed, and eight Prawns stood around him. He recognized Christopher, but Wikus was too busy howling over the pain in his Prawn-arm to figure out who the other Prawns were.

He looked down at the crab-like claw that had taken over his left arm, and to his horror, he saw that it had cracked and underneath there were bloody sticks, five of them . . . almost like human fingers.

He fainted after that, and the Prawns kept him sedated, floating gently in painless serenity while they worked over his body. At times he felt like he was weightless in water, but he let the dreams swim over him, around him, dragging him wherever they wanted.

Later.

He blinked softly and tried to sit up. He was tied down to the bed.

"Rest, human," Christopher clicked softly.

Wikus rolled his head over to see the Prawn standing in a corner. Christopher looked . . . different. Wikus couldn't figure out how, but the Prawn seemed healthier, more vibrant, stronger.

"Why am I tied down?" Wikus asked, surprised by the weakness of his voice.

"You were restrained for the procedure. You needed to be still for the healing."

"Am I Prawn now?" Wikus felt too scared too look down at his own body.

"No," Christopher slowly moved towards the bed. "We restored you to human form, fully."

He held up a rectangle of metal that glinted and then paled until it became mirror-like and reflected it at Wikus.

Wikus stared at his appearance. Several twisted black ropes held his body down to the hard bed, with only a swaddling cloth over his private parts, but he was fully human. His fingernails had grown back, short hair was on his head, his arm was human, and his eyes were both brown. He opened his mouth and saw that his teeth had grown back.

Wikus slumped back to the bed and let out a hoarse sob. "I'm human, I'm human. I'm fully human. But why? Why take me with you and change me back to this?"

Christopher considered for a moment. "You were human. You did not ask to become us. The ship was having trouble dealing with your biology. It could not recognize you as Prawn or something entirely alien because you were a hybrid. I consulted with my colleagues and they all agreed that you needed to return to being human. The machines of the ship are powerful enough to aid us in changing you back."

"I don't mind being human again," Wikus breathed. "But I'm surprised the other Prawns allowed it, after what the humans did to them."

"They were not completely altruistic," Christopher admitted. "Most everything on the ship is run by Prawn hands or Prawn DNA. By keeping you human, we've ensured that you can't run the ship or threaten us with our weapons. You're harmless for the duration of the trip."

"The trip?" Wikus frowned. "What trip? Aren't we hovering over earth?"

"We've been traveling through space while you were out."

"Traveling? For how long?"

"In human time, two months."

Wikus squeaked and tried to sit up. The ropes, that looked more like pliable metal fused into rope-like lengths, held him down.

"Oh, let me up. I hate being tied down, like they did at MNU."

Christopher complied, gently pressing on clasps that released the ropes. Wikus sat up and meant to stand, but he felt dizzy enough that he stayed on the bed, his bare legs dangling over the end.

"We've been in space for two months? But . . . how? How did you get away?"

"Another ship showed up. Apparently, my people have been looking for us for the last twenty-eight years. They rescued all remaining Prawns and then blew up District 9 before riding with us back into space."

"How," Wikus took a deep breath to stop shaking, "how far are we from earth?"

"I'm not sure. We passed out of your galaxy days ago."

"But," Wikus couldn't believe how weak and pathetic his voice sounded, "I want to go home."

"I know the feeling," Christopher moved over to the other corner of the room. "We've managed to design some clothes for you since your body does not have the proper covering to protect itself."

"No, we're not done," Wikus pushed himself up to shaky feet. It hurt to stand, mainly because he hadn't done it in sixty days. "I can't come with you. I belong on earth with other humans. You have to take me back."

"Impossible. I barely managed to convince our leaders to keep you alive. They wanted to throw your body off the ship once we passed out of the stratosphere. I convinced them to keep you alive for the procedure. When we reach my home, they'll display you as human DNA and make weapons that will destroy the humans should we decide to return and wage war with earth for its cruelty."

"No, I won't let you," Wikus took a step forward, but he kept one hand on the bed for balance.

"Let me make one thing perfectly clear, human," Christopher looked straight at him, and Wikus blinked at how commanding the alien seemed, much more threatening than he had ever appeared on earth. "You are a prisoner here, helpless and at our mercy. You have been put under my protection so the others won't harm you, but you have no say in what happens to you. I will treat you much better than the humans ever treated me or my kind, but you belong to me now. You start fighting or arguing or fussing with me, and I will reprimand you in terms that a human can understand."

Wikus wanted to argue further, but he settled for glaring at the Prawn for a second. Christopher was right – he was helpless as Prawns were stronger than humans and Wikus knew nothing about flying an alien ship through space at what had to be a fast speed.

"I know it's difficult," Christopher held out a claw. "Get dressed."

Wikus took the hand and limped to the garments. It hurt to walk and he was all weak and wheezy and he shook so bad that he could barely grab the clothes.

"Easy, human," Christopher warned. "Let me help."

With one arm, the Prawn effortlessly scooped Wikus up and carried him back to the table, the human hanging limply over the Prawn's rigid shoulder.

"I can't breathe," Wikus said as he was placed back down on the bed. "I feel like I've had the flu and I'm achy all over."

"The strain of growing back into a human. We fed you through tubes and emptied you through other tubes, but your muscles atrophied after lying still for so long."

"Crikey," Wikus protested, "is there any part of me you haven't touched? Some parts are supposed to be private, you know."

The Prawn made no reply as he took off the loincloth and eased Wikus's limbs into the clothes, careful not to push too roughly.

The clothes turned out to be trousers that were too loose and raggedy; they attached to a form-fitting top. The clothes would allow him to move with ease, but, mostly horrific of all, the seat of the trousers was missing.

"Where's the back of these damned things?" Wikus tried to peer over his shoulder at his naked rear end. "You forgot to cover my ass. I can't go around like this."

Christopher regarded him for a second. "Humans release their remains from that part of their anatomy. You do not want to get it in the clothes, therefore you can hover over a pot and not worry."

"You stupid Prawn," Wikus yelled at him. "You never saw humans go around like this. We cover ourselves or did you not notice?"

Christopher remained still for a second, but then without warning, he lunged forward, caught Wikus with one arm, and smacked his claw against the human's bare bottom with a loud smack.

Wikus hollered in protest, but the Prawn whacked him two more times before sitting him down on the bed.

"Are you fooking crazy?" the human shouted. "You can't hit me like that. I'm a grown man. You have a problem with me, then you punch me in the face. You don't . . . you don't fooking spank me like a child."

"If I hit you in the face, I might knock out your new teeth," Christopher seemed oddly calm. "I'll do much less damage to your buttocks. That way you will start to think about the way you speak to me or any Prawn."

Wikus felt his cheeks flame red, but to his dismay, his eyes filled with tears. He wasn't sure if it were exhaustion or his new body or the fact that he might never see earth again or any humans he knew or that his one Prawn friend had hit him, but it all felt too much. For a moment, he thought he might be sick.

"Shh, human,' Christopher was easing him back to lay on the bed. "You're under stress – you will make yourself sick. I shouldn't have punished you like that without warning. I'm sorry if I scared you. I, too, have been very worried, mostly about you."

Wikus wanted to speak, but he couldn't trust himself to get anything out without actually starting to cry.

"I will try to find clothes that cover you better," the Prawn promised. "For now, rest while I find you some food."

Wikus nodded tightly, sniffing back any remaining tears.

A pattern of footsteps was heard, and then a small Prawn peered into the room.

"Oliver?" Wikus gave a weak smile.

The child Prawn raced across the room and jumped up on the edge of the bed. It nuzzled its head down on Wikus's chest before hopping in excitement.

"You're awake! They had you sleeping forever. You're all human again, but now we can play together. The ship is so big, and it's attached to the other bigger ship, but they won't let me go over there. You could help me sneak over and we could –"

"Indeed, you won't," Christopher interrupted, his mouth clicking angrily. "You're not sneaking around anywhere and you're not getting Wikus into trouble. You try anymore nonsense and we'll have to put you in the detainer."

Oliver's head drooped in shame. Wikus put a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort the little guy. He supposed that any child, Prawn or human, would be excited to travel through space in a ship, and Christopher seemed a little too stern sometimes with his offspring.

"Put away those sad looks," Christopher clicked. "Wikus needs to rest for now. Tell him goodbye and you can see him later."

Oliver pushed his hard, skeletal body against Wikus's chest again, smoothing over his new hair with a small claw. Then the child Prawn leapt off the bed with an audible "Wheeeee!" and scampered towards the door.

"He's just a kid," Wikus yawned. "Don't blame him."

"Rest, human," Christopher fiddled with some knobs and the room began to darken. Wikus hadn't seen any actual lights in the ceiling, but as the room dimmed, he could have sworn that the walls were glowing, providing the light for the windowless chamber.

"I don't want alien food," Wikus muttered as he relaxed on the hard bed. "I want a hamburger. And a steak. A cup of tea. A strong beer. A cup of pudding. Maybe not all that stuff at once. Just the tea for now."

Christopher made no comment as he left the room. The doorway closed behind him and he walked down the narrow passageway until it opened up into the drop. The drop, as it had been named, was the open section in the ship that fell down twenty floors of open space. The levels all had balconies and ramps so that the Prawns could easily leap up and down floors. The thrust of the ship's speed created gravity throughout the ship, slightly less than that of earth's, but enough that the Prawns had to work to get from one level to another.

Christopher watched them move, scurrying between the levels in pursuit of different tasks. His own errant son was at the bottom of the levels, playing with other child Prawns by seeing who could jump the highest and swing from the next level with one claw.

After a while, Christopher headed for the food levels to survey the rows of living food that grew on hanging lines from the ceiling and the contained food in metal packages on shelves, wondering what kind of food the human would be able to digest. While Wikus had been sedated, they had ground up all food and mixed it with water until they could pour it down tubes into the human's throat. At first, all food had been welcome as the human was part Prawn. However, as he returned to human, his body seemed to resist more and more of the Prawn food. The only thing that his body could regularly digest was more of the green, vegetable-like food.

Christopher began picking a hanging plant. He hoped something like a soup would calm the human who would be a difficult guest to transport back to the home planet. Christopher had considered leaving him behind, but then the Prawn transformation would have continued until Wikus was fully alien. No, he was much safer here on the ship, a human amidst hundreds of Prawn; he was safe because Christopher would protect him.


End file.
